WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL A - CHINESE TAIPEI VS CUBA

March 12, 2023

Armando Johnson

Alfredo Despaigne

Miguel Romero

Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium

Team Cuba

Postgame Press Conference

Cuba 7, Chinese Taipei 1

Q. What are your impressions about this game?

ARMANDO JOHNSON: Well, my thoughts about this game, you know what the stadium was like, and it's difficult to play against the fans. But our players also know how to behave in a moment like this. I believe it was it was a game that in the beginning, we were able to score the runs, and congratulations to the other team as well who was fighting until the very end.

But we were better on the day.

Q. Pitching was a real weapon that you had. Would you give us an evaluation of the work of the pitchers?

ARMANDO JOHNSON: From Cuba, we were preparing the pitching staff, and since we were there, we gave each of them what they have to be given, and they have shown now that in each innings, they were excellent. We have a bullpen of very high quality that we can resolve in the last innings, any sort of problems that we may face, and they have been preparing for anything that was thrown at them.

Q. This is your fourth Classic and a high responsibility on the team. You have 19, you are just behind Cespedes with runs scored, and I believe nine consecutive games you've played. How do you handle that responsibility? How does it weigh on the team?

ALFREDO DESPAIGNE: First of all, being very concentrated and having the confidence that I should have, thanks to the information given to me, I believe that I am complying with the job that was given to me, especially the runs brought in. And we have a responsibility to do things well. We did things well and that gave us success.

Q. Seven innings without allowing any runs. To the other team, the pitcher really canceled out the other team. How have you accomplished this and what is coming now is going to be more demanding?

MIGUEL ROMERO: This is a new experience for me. This is the first time I've come to a World Baseball Classic. I just do the job that's given to me and I try to do my best when the team needs it.

ARMANDO JOHNSON: I believe it's the work that we are doing. We did everything possible so that the boys would overcome all of the challenges, and we said from the beginning that our athletes, as the competition progressed, that we are going to improve, and that's the way it was. The players have behaved beautifully and come from less to more, and that's been the situation because of the union that's amongst all athletes in the team. Now we are very happy and it was really beautiful to see.

Q. How did you win the game? It was not only winning the game but having the highest score possible. Was that a lot of pressure and were you aware of what was happening? Has it been difficult, you only speak one language in the locker room, but how about the players who do not live in Cuba?

ARMANDO JOHNSON: What was my question, sorry?

Q. You couldn't allow many runs today. How did you math this?

ARMANDO JOHNSON: We know the game is going to be difficult but we had to manage the pitching well so that they wouldn't score runs because that was the key to qualify or not qualify. I think with pitching, we did it well. The opening pitcher could not accomplish the work completely. But we had a plan if anything happened to him, we had the relief pitcher. It was an enormous amount of work for our pitchers, and the opposing pitchers, it was an excellent job. That's we did. We didn't change anything. We've done everything the same.

ALFREDO DESPAIGNE: It's a beautiful experience for me for the first time having a team of ballplayers from Cuba. They played excellent baseball and from the very first day they were supporting the whole team and really integrated, and they were really didn't. That's the key. They all came to help and are doing it in a very excellent way.

Q. How do you feel in Japan, all this noise that you can hear when you're batting, is this something negative or what do you think about the noise?

ALFREDO DESPAIGNE: I don't think so. I think when you are concentrating on the work that you have to do, it doesn't influence you. You're concentrating on the pitcher, you're concentrating on the game and the fans, in my particular case, it doesn't bother me.

Q. If Netherlands wins, Cuba would be in second place and you would be playing against Japan, a team that you know very well, you know their players. Do you believe that this Cuban team has the skills to beat the team of Japan?

ARMANDO JOHNSON: The Japanese team is a very physical team, well-integrated, but we believe that the game is a game and we are ready to face anyone. I believe that our team has been playing better and better, and I believe that our team can beat Japan.

Q. In your first innings, you did not have as much rhythm as last ones. What does this represent to you, winning in a World Baseball Classic, and how do you change the way that you got into rhythm for the games?

MIGUEL ROMERO: Well, the way that you get rhythm into the game is I kept working. I was playing in a league in Puerto Rico and I was just working harder and harder, and here we have bats men as well who were excellent.

Q. Is it because of injury that you sat down, because the manager of the other team of Chinese Taipei has questioned about the suspicious of having foreign material, and the time out, did you call the time out because the crowd was too loud or are there any other reasons?

ARMANDO JOHNSON: It's true that they made a claim that there was a forbidden substance, but they went, they reviewed, and there was no substance to be found. The forearm of the pitcher was a bit tense. He couldn't move his finger well, and that was the cause for the -- why he couldn't continue. We had to change him.